Celebrity
Mischa Barton Reveals She Dated Co-Star Ben McKenzie During The O.C.
“It was kind of a whole ordeal.”
On the Call Her Daddy podcast, Mischa Barton revealed that she dated her co-star Ben McKenzie in real life while filming the first season of The O.C.
During the Feb. 21 episode, host Alex Cooper asked Barton, now 38, how she felt about having to act with a 25-year-old love interest when she was just 17. “It wasn’t just on-screen either,” the actor said. “I mean, it was kind of complicated for me.”
Barton explained that it was her first relationship, and she “had no idea what [she] was doing” while dating. “I think that kind of set things off on the wrong foot too... People hook up on these shows, and these things happen, but we threw ourselves all into it very fast,” she said. “It definitely was tricky that it happened right out of the gate. I felt overwhelmed and not ready for any of that.”
She recalled a time when the people on set grew concerned. “I remember they were all like, ‘Mischa‘s disappeared with Ben,’ and she’s only 17 and a half, 18, and the producers went to my parents,” she said. “It was kind of a whole ordeal. That’s in the very beginning of the show, before we’re even halfway through a season.”
Eventually, she says she ended the relationship with McKenzie. “It’s one of those things, you’re so young, and you realize, ‘I’m not ready for that. I have no idea what I’m doing.’ It’s overwhelming and too close to home,” she said. Like most co-stars who date off-screen and then break up, they had to “suck it up and get on with it” while filming on set.
Barton has been open about filming The O.C., telling E! in 2021 that she experienced bullying while working on the show. ‘There were people on that set that were very mean to me,” she said. “It wasn't the most ideal environment for a young, sensitive girl who's also been thrust into stardom to have to put up with.”
As she said on Call Her Daddy, the age difference between herself and her castmates, who were all in their 20s, also made her feel “ostracized” from the group and pressured to grow up faster.
“Acting with people older than me was a bit like, ‘Oh wow, they know what they’re doing. There’s going to be relationships on this show, and you’re going to need to play that part,’” she said. “I was always a really late bloomer in school, and I hadn’t really dated. So, I felt like I needed to catch up, I think, a lot of the time.”
